Now, there are nearly 800 Indian companies on Facebook's Workplace

The mobile-first, subscription-based product has made the country one of the top five in the world for the enterprise communications appMegha Mandavia | ET Bureau | May 19, 2017, 09:22 IST

Facebook has signed up about 800 clients in India including Bharti Airtel and Jet Airways for its workplace version, making the country one of the top 5 in the world for the enterprise communication app.

Workplace by Facebook is a subscription product, a departure from its advertising-led revenue model. Businesses pay $1-3 per active user for the product. It counts Godrej, Pidilite, MakeMyTrip, StoreKing and Jugnoo as some of its top clients in India. Globally, it has 14,000 customers.

The product, which aims to replace emails, mailing lists, newsletters, intranet and other forms of internal communication at companies, is available in 21 languages in India. It includes News Feed, the ability to create and share in groups, features like live video, reactions, search, trending posts and chat to communicate with colleagues in real time. “The mission for Workplace is to connect everyone in the company.

We don't see it as a piece of productivity software. We see it is as a different way of running the company by giving everyone a voice, even people who have never had email or a desktop before,“ said Julien Codorniou, VP . Workplace by Facebook, which competes with Google, Microsoft and Slack in the office-communication segment, is going after companies with employees who spend most of their time outside office premises such as factory workers and salesmen.

“Every company where you see desk-less workers, mobile-only workers is perfect for us. That is why I think there is a strong appetite for Workplace in India compared to other regions. It is a huge market,“ said Codorniou. “Mobile first is a global strategy, but it resonates well with Indian companies.“

Workplace by Facebook has a mobile application and a messenger similar to Facebook's consumer version, which it sees as a key differentiator aiding fast adoption. “People don't have to be trained to use the product, especially in India where many people use Facebook and WhatsApp. The fact that it is mobile-first is very important as well,“ said Codorniou.

Facebook has more than 184 million monthly active users in India. Codorniou said Workplace is growing fast in India but didn't share any internal growth projections or targets. “Indian companies move very fast. We have a diverse range of companies -startups, big conglomerates, small companies and non-profit organisations,“ he added.

According to FB, the “massive“ Indian workforce below the age of 25 prefers using mobile applica tions to communicate rather than emails.